The latest piece of news on Wumpscut’s official website updates us on the progress of the upcoming album Fuckit - it’s finished, and it’ll be available for hearing on Wumpscut’s website on Christmas Eve, 24th December! What exactly this means is as of yet unknown, as the English update only mentions the album being “online” then, whereas the German version says the album “wird zu kriegen sein”, which is pretty much “will be available” in English. Maybe you’ll actually be able to download the full album for free? Who knows? Just under two weeks until the 24th, so you’ll have to hold your horses until then.

Rudy “Merch Factory” Ratzinger is also announcing a new line of :W: merchandise for Fuckit and Wumpscut. Alongside previously announced rings and belts you’ll have the chance to really fuckit (oh my god, I’m sorry! But I’m sure horrible puns are exactly what Rudy’s been aiming for) with Fuckit-themed condoms. In addition to those, on 24th will also be revealed more fantastically unexpected fan swag. Whatever could that be? It’s not like Wumpscut’s had any sort of dearth of creativity for its merchandise, there’s been just about everything from mousepads to fridge magnets, and from energy drinks to metal shields… And now there’s supposed to be something even more extraordinary. You could say Ratzinger goes sometimes - no, make it all the time - a bit overboard with the insane amounts of merchandise, but hey, at least it’s all consistently really, really good and of high quality. And who said you have to buy absolutely everything?

Agonoize releases music For the Sick and Disturbed in October

The EBM outfit Agonoize will release a brand-new EP on October 31st. Titled For the Sick and Disturbed, it will feature five new songs and a couple of remixes. Unfortunately, although sources tell there will at least be a club track called “Schafensterpuppenarsch”, no tracklisting has been made public yet. However, you can certainly click on the picture to the right to take a better look at the either crazy cool / stupidly horrible coverart on the right. If you aren’t familiar with Agonoize yet, you can catch samples of older material, including a track from their previous album Sieben, on their MySpace site.

Ratzinger’s at it again: upcoming Wumpscut album to be titled FUCKIT

“I guess we’ll be seeing if Rudy is able to keep up the quality next April, if he’s going to continue at the same pace as before“, said I last March in my review of Wumpscut’s 2008 album Schädling. And indeed, that’s exactly what will happen, because one of the most prolific artists in the electronic scene, Rudy Ratzinger, has just revealed that his next Wumpscut album will be titled FUCKIT and, as has been the case for the last few years, it will see the light of day sometime April or March. You’ll likely have your typical wide assortment of different versions to choose from, including a crazy box packed with various collectible items, a limited first edition, a DJ CD and a whole plethora of other, wacky options. Whether Mr. R will be able to improve on the extremely solid Schädling will be solved next spring!

I for one am excited and interested, but what do you think? Do you think Rudy should spend more time preparing each album? Or does the fact that he never tours really enable him to release albums at such a fast pace? Also, the title of the new album is quite a departure from the typical themes Wumpscut has touched upon, what do you think it might mean for the style of the music this time? Take it to the comments!

New Atrocity video and stadium appearance
We’re getting a double dose of news from Atrocity today. First of all, they recently filmed a new music video for the song “The Sun Always Shines On TV” from their current album Werk 80 II. The song is a metal interpretation of the Norwegian synthpop band a-ha’s 1985 single. Personally, I don’t think either the song or the video are that great so I’m not going to post it here, but you can still watch it on Youtube if you want.

Second, Atrocity will appear at the Gottlieb Daimler Stadium on May 17th for the VfB Stuttgart vs. Arminia Bielefeld final soccer match. The game is sold out which means they will be playing in front of 56,000 people, quite an experience I can imagine.

Wumpscut’s Schädling out in America today
Just a quick reminder to all Wumpscut fans in the USA and Canada: Schädling was just released here today on Metropolis Records. We have been keeping up pretty well with the news about this latest release from Rudy Ratzinger, so check out my post with the tracklisting and other details or Valtteri’s review of the Schädlingsbox if you haven’t been there already.

4lyn is heading to China
Yesterday, 4lyn announced on their website that they will be travelling to the Chongqing region of China to participate in a the German Cultural Weeks during May. They also plan to return to Chongqing, which is one of the most populated areas in China, for next year’s events. These cultural programs are being planned by the Goethe Institut to promote cultural exchange between the countries.

Piscide is now available on iTunes
The German electro-industrial band Piscide just released their second album Elekktroshokk a few weeks ago on March 14th, but it was only available as a physical CD. Now you can find Piscide’s music on iTunes if you prefer to download MP3s instead.

Last friday I picked up a large parcel from my local post office. Guess what it contained?

click for larger image

Yep, the limited box edition of the electro-industrial legend :Wumpscut:’s record for 2008. It was one of those “well, why the hell not”, spur-of-the-moment impulse buys, the first :W: box I’ve bought. What wonders could await inside?

Find out just what, a review of the album and more behind the link!
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The electronic solo act Yendri from :Wumpscut:’s Rudy Ratzinger’s own label Mental Ulcer Forces released her new album Dreams Of An Undead Girl on the 21st of March. This is one of the acts Ratzinger himself found interesting enough to release, and the lady behind Yendri has also done a couple of remixes for :Wumpscut:.

To get a taster of Yendri’s interesting and atmospheric electronics-based music, visit Yendri.de and listen to the music player. The album seems to be available on most large outlets, for example EMP.de for €9,99, Infrarot.de for €9,99 as well, and for US residents Isotank.com for $20.99.

Yendri - Dreams Of An Undead Girl tracklisting
01. Am I Dead Now
02. The Scientists
03. Until Eternity
04. Maya Is My Name
05. Run For Your Life
06. Calling All Angels
07. It Comes Over Me
08. Time Out
09. It Feels So Strange
10. Cryout
11. I Will Be Gone
12. Kill Myself
13. Without It

Rudy Ratzinger is at it again. Wumpscut has a new album called Schädling which has just been released today (March 21st) in Germany. The Americans will see the album in just a few weeks on April 8th via Metropolis Records, Wumpscut’s typical US-distributor. So far so good, but now this is where it gets a little confusing. There are 4 different versions of the album:

• The first edition of Schädling is a limited run and all copies are autographed by Rudy. This version contains 1 CD with the 12-song album and a special booklet with parchment paper. It is packaged in an oversized SACD case and is available only in Germany, although some other stores may decide to import it.
• The second edition of Schädling is the same 1 CD with 12 songs in the SACD, but it is not limited and does not have the autographed parchment paper booklet. This is what you would call the most standard version of the album. It will be the version that’s available worldwide, although I don’t know if the US version from Metropolis will also have the SACD packaging or not.
• The Schädlingsbox is the box set version which is limited to 1,515 units. It contains the limited first edition of the album (see above) plus a 2nd CD containing a remix album. Also included is a polo shirt in sizes Medium or X-Large, a flag, fridge magnet, postcard, calendar, sticker, and a poster.
• The Vinylschädling version is obviously the version of the album on 12″ vinyl LPs. This is limited to just 300 units.

Also note that the Wumpscut shop offers a special package containing the Schädlingsbox, the limited first edition of the album, the vinyl version, plus the DJ Dwarf Eight single (limited to 500 units) and Dwarf Craving v2. This is not really a version of the album, but rather a combination of items that are available.

Listen to Wumpscut and Schädling
You can listen to reasonably long MP3 samples from Schädling in Wumpscut’s shop. Just go to one of the items like the second edition here to download these samples. Wumpscut’s MySpace page also has a sampling from the album.

Where to buy Schädling

• In Europe - The official Wumpscut shop has all the different versions of the album, plus all kinds of older Wumpscut music and other merchandise.
• In the USA and Canada - Metropolis Records has the US version available for pre-order, as well as the first edition German version as an import. They have the lowest prices for these items that I have seen in US-based shops.

Wumpscut - Schädling tracklist
01. Rusty Nails From Hell
02. Schäbiger Lump
03. Oh How It Feels
04. Foretold
05. Break The Seal
06. Rifki
07. Enemy
08. Hard To Bear
09. Spuuk (Now Is Over)
10. Moloch
11. Voodoo Void
12. Nest

Schädling remix CD tracklist (only in the Schädlingsbox)
01. Schäbiger Lump (Ranthony Other remix)
02. Rifki (Cerebral Apoplexy remix)
03. Rusty Nails From Hell (12 inch remix)
04. Schäbiger Lump (Der Blutharsch remix)
05. Rifki (Mechanimal Canicals remix)
06. Schäbiger Lump (Recently Deceased club mix)
07. Schäbiger Lump (Midnight Commodore remix)
08. Rifki (K-U-T-T Remix)
09. Schäbiger Lump (Recently Deceased Floating remix)
10. Schäbiger Lump (Reznick remix)
11. Schäbiger Lump (Yendri Goosepimple remix)
12. Rifki (Advent Resilience remix)
13. Schäbiger Lump (Erektor remix)
14. Schäbiger Lump (Piscide remix)
15. Schäbiger Lump (Naked Beat remix)
16. Schäbiger Lump (ASL remix)

I got an email a while ago from someone who asked me which Wumpscut album he should try first. The problem with many bands that have been around for a while like Wumpscut has, is that their sound tends to change over time. So if you’re new to that band, you don’t want to get the wrong first impression by listening to a song or album you don’t really like when you really would like something they released 10 years before that. There’s certainly nothing wrong with only liking a few albums a band has made, it happens all the time. So how do you figure out what to listen to first?

Well, my answer was largely based on the fact that he told me he was really into heavier, more guitar driven sounds, much like I am. I figured if we both like the same kind of music, I should just tell him what my favorite Wumpscut albums are: Wreath of Barbs and Dried Blood of Gomorrha (a combination of the Dried Blood MCD and the Gomorrha MCD). These 2 albums really have a harder EBM sound with a very strong beat, versus some of Wumpscut’s more recent albums like Bone Peeler and Evoke which sound more electro and softer to me. Another reason I recommended Dried Blood of Gomorrha is because it contains my favorite Wumpscut song “Black Death (French Concept)” which is one of their very few songs with heavy guitars.

If you like harder sounds, try my recommendations. On the other hand, if you’re more into the electro scene, then you would probably prefer trying an album like Body Census first. In the end, he decided to get Dried Blood of Gomorrha and Cannibal Anthem, one of Wumpscut’s newer albums, because he had heard some good things about it. It’s not one of my favorites, but it does kind of go back to Wumpscut’s older sound a little bit and it’s still pretty good. He loved both, and that’s what’s important. Wumpscut has a new fan.